Surprising Science — December 13, 2010

Mysteries of the Deep Sea

There are plenty of places on Earth that seem alien to us. The deep sea is a perfect example: it’s been said that we know more about Mars than we do about the bottom of the ocean.

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Hydrothermal vent communities weren’t discovered until 1977, well after the first landings on Mars. Scientists believed that the deep ocean was cold, dark, and inhospitable to life. But when scientists started studying the areas where hot mineral-heavy water wells up like an underwater geyer in tectonically active-regions (seafloor rifts), they were surprised to discover that deep-sea vents were home to thriving communities, full of life. There were lots of animals, a high biomass, and many were active. Without photosynthesis, where does the energy come from?

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Earth viewed from space, partially obscured by a graphical overlay illustrating how oxygen once nearly killed life.

Starts With A Bang

What was it like when oxygen killed almost all life on Earth?

Known as the Great Oxygenation Event, Earth froze over as oxygen accumulated in our atmosphere, nearly driving all life extinct.

Abstract representation of the first possible molecules in a cosmic setting with a celestial body.

Starts With A Bang

What was it like when life first became possible?

Earth wasn’t created until more than 9 billion years after the Big Bang. In some lucky places, life could have arisen almost right away.

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Did we recover alien technology from the bottom of the ocean?

A Harvard astronomer went to the bottom of the ocean, claiming he recovered alien technology. But what does the science actually indicate?

two views of the earth from different angles.

Hard Science

How plate tectonics shook life into existence

The cycles of life all rely on the dynamism of the Earth’s crust.

Hard Science

Why so gassy? Mysterious methane detected on Saturn’s moon

Scientists do not know what is causing the overabundance of the gas.

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